Hamed Vs Barrera.

History has been re-written for Naz vs. Barrera, a competive fight was turned into a "schooling" and a "land slide". Personally, I just thought Naz burned brightly for a short period of time, had a great career, and then it ended. No regrets.

 

I agree, it's human nature to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see - many people had been wanting him to fail for a long time so now it is very easy to look back in throw about words like "schooled" and "exposed" without any futher thought other than a couple of memories of Naseem looking poor in a 20 second Youtube clip of the fight.

The thing that irritates me somewhat is the suggestion that when he finally 'stepped up' he was exposed, this is utter rubbish, by this point in his career he had already faced 7 ring top ten contenders - their unbeaten runs coming into the fights adds up to more than 25 years! If you compare this to many champions it's not a bad set of results!

Steve Robinson - ring#3 - hadn't lost in more than 2 1/2 years
Manuel Medina - ring #9 (was #3 only 6 months ago)
Tom Johnson - ring #1 - hadn't lost in 6 years
Kevin Kelly - ring #5 - hadn't lost in nearly 3 years
Wilfredo Vasquev - ring #4 - hadn't lost in nearly 3 years
Ceaser Soto - ring #5 - hadn't lost in 3 1/4 years
Vuyani Bungu - ring #4 - hadn't lost in 8 years

Not to mention multiple other defences.

 

great post matt very true.

 

Yeah i agree.. Hamed was a fantastic talent and im a big fan but even i ask myself what could of been? there were so many more fights there for him and i just wish he didnt lose the heart for it.

 

To be fair there Matt I think when people talk about Naz stepping up it is a reference to the absolute elite level. There were loads of mega, mega fights in the offing if Naz had have kept at it. The lads you listed are fine fighters in their own right but the absolutely huge Hall of Fame kind of fights were there if he wanted them.

However he didn't want them and went off the radar after that. It was his own perogative to do so and he was more than entitled to take that choice. What bothers me is all this what if he did this or that or the next thing. He could have done this or he could have done that if he had gone on. It's all bollocks, the fact of the matter is he didn't go on and do all these special things that people say he could have. End of story.

I actually just watched the Barrera fight again when this one was announced. It wasn't a schooling. However, it was a very clear cut victory to Barrera. I had him winning by 5 points but bring that down to 4 after the deduction.
A couple of the judged had a 4 point gap coming down to 3 after the deduction.
8 rounds to 4. That to me is clear cut and comprehensive without being a crushing victory

 

Let sleeping dogs lay.

 

i reckon hamed had the potential to become an all time great but he blew it! what a waste! dont get me wrong he still had an impressivr record but he should have screwed the nut and rematched MAB! unfort6unatly cause he quit,all the haterz can say he wis exposed against MAB!. (his own fault!)

 

I'm glad Hamed got his arse kicked. His attitude always stunk. He lost any respect I might have had after he beat Steve Robinson. "Stevo" was an incredibly brave, determined fighter, who was out of his depth agianst Hamed. He still deserved his respect, but got **** all. I'm only sorry Hamed didn't fight on, and get hammered again.

 

Hamed lost that fight long before he got in the ring with MAB. He was so caught up in his own hype and far to busy worried about his haircut than he was training for the fight. Bearing in mind that sheep Oscar Suarez (R.I.P) was his trainer he only made matters worse by not admonishing him at all or working on his boxing.

 

I still believe that a prime, focused and determined Hamed would have been more than a match for Barrera and I believe he would have beaten him.

Hamed gets grossly underrated on this forum by some.

 

Thats because half these numpty have barely seen a fraction of his fights. You best believe a focused and on point Naz would have knocked Barrera out thats real.

 

:rofl

 

It's just Americans who deride Hamed though isn't it?

But this highlights how much Frank Warren has to answer for in ruining the legacies of the best British talent. I was reading some old copies of Boxing Monthly from back in 1995 and before Hamed fought Robinson, the WBO had made Hamed the mandatory challenger for the super-bantam title - held at the time by none other then Barrera who had already built a reputation stateside.
Imagine the waves Hamed would have made then, aged 21 at the peak of his reflexes, taunting and dancing around Barrera whilst dishing out a pounding. Instead, Warren pushed Hamed to move up above his natural weight and pulled strings with the WBO to get him to be the mandatory featherweight, despite having never fought at the weight.

Another article in Boxing Monthly a few years later after Hamed had beaten Tom Johnson suggested that Hamed's aims to unify all the belts and fight the best US and MExican contenders was being blocked by Don King - because Warren was freezing him out of a role in Hameds career. Although the mag was cautious in its words, it did hint a slight admonishment, stating that "had Warren enjoyed the full co-operation of King, Hamed's US career would have been well under way". Warren had Hamed earning millions from mediocre defences so the rot set in early with Hamed.

Recently HAmed apparently told Warren that the biggest mistake he made was leaving Warren's outfit and going alone. He was wrong, the biggest mistake he made was not leaving sooner.

 

Good post. It must be noted that Warren has always made himself and his fighters richer via the least path of resistance. Objectively Naz was no diffrent. The WBO when it was created in 1989 was a godsend for Frank. The result is the garbage we have today.